Hillbilly_Hooker

Bummer! I was hoping to see him in a Legend, but I'm sure you're stoked FiveBass By the way, we need to hit the water again soon. The announcement is on another site as well.

George, I just sent you a PM regarding Sid. Hillbilly

Gristmill, Welcome to the boards from another Virginian! I'm sure you'll find lots of great information here, just as I have. There are several Virginia members here, including several from the NoVa area. Perhaps you can watch for their posts, introduce yourself, and hook up to go fishing. Another thing you might consider is hiring one of the guides on Lake Anna to take you fishing for a day. I'm sure you'll catch some fish and learn some new techniques in the meantime. You might also plan on attending Bassarama in Richmond in late January. It used to be a great fishing expo, lost some steam over the years, but has recently come under new ownership and a lot of us are hoping for better shows to come. I'm sure you'll meet a lot of folks there that can give you some great pointers and they may be having some seminars as well. Good luck and good fishing, Hillbilly

earthworm, Are you talking about me? ;D I have only fished competitively for one year and I'm certainly not placing or consistently catching fish in tournaments. I do have my moments (big fish at one, won 2nd at one, and won one), but I'm not 'the guy' that everyone is trying to emulate. I have, however, been able to secure several sponsors for the coming year and I'm working on a couple of others. The amounts of $ aren't large, but I will have enough sponsors paying me $ that I won't have to spend any of my own money on entry fees, travel, or motels in '07. They didn't give me that money because of my fishing prowess. They gave it to me because I have nearly 30 years of sales experience, many years of experience working trade shows, open houses, etc., and a lot of experience in public speaking. I can speak and write effectively, am college educated, and professional in my appearance and presentations. I would have to agree, catching fish is secondary.

zimmy, I've fished baitcasters for 20+ years, but last year's model of the Curado was my first 'good' baitcaster. I couldn't believe the difference that a quality reel makes. If you get the Curado, you can't go wrong. I have 5 baitcasters currently, and the Curado is still my favorite. Good fishing, Hillbilly

I've also always heard, and I also believe, that any exposed rock, in direct sunlight, will heat up and will hold heat. I would think that, to a certain level, heat within the rock would transfer to other parts of the rock that are under water. Beyond a few inches, though, I would think that the part of the rock underwater would remain roughly the same temperature as the water. Any geologists want to tell us the truth? :-?

I think fishing as a non-boater is great! I'm getting ready to spend my 2nd year as a non-boater before I start fishing my own boat. I have a boat, but I enjoy the time spent with my partner and I hate to give him up just yet. Most boaters are very accepting of non-boaters, just show them some respect for their boat, equipment, and the expense they have invested in being a boater and you'll do fine. Treat them like you would like to be treated and everyone will have a great time. Hillbilly

tipul8, Check out the following website, I'm sure they can point you in the right direction. It's for the B.A.S.S. Federation Nation of Ohio. www.ohiobassfederationnation.com Good luck and good fishing, Hillbilly

I haven't heard anything about the Lowrance Hot Spots chip, but Navionics does have a $50 rebate offer on their Hot Maps Premium chip. With the rebate, it puts the Navionics in the same price range as most others... $99.00 But, the rebate offer ends 12/31/06. I'm going to be buying the Navionics chip before the rebate expires.

Shellback, Has Ike taken the Legend deal? If so, where did you read/hear that? I haven't seen anything about it on any of the forums, on ***, or anywhere else. There is nothing mentioned on Ike's site nor is there anything about it on Legend's site. Thanks, Hillbilly

During my club's last tournament of '06, my partner won the tournament using a white spinnerbait with double blades, both in white. I used an identical spinnerbait, with the exception of my blades being shiny. He easily bested the rest of the field and I couldn't even get a stinkin' bite, except for one decent keeper on the 2nd day. I'll have some spinnerbaits with painted blades with me in the future

Catt, Congrats on the birth of your grandchild! I hate to burst your bubble though, but the world's greatest angler will be one of my 3 grandsons Congrats again, Hillbilly

PinkFloyd, You're worried about being a loser because the 'relationship' only lasted four days? Until I married my 2nd wife, I had 'relationships' that didn't last until the end of the first date. For the most part, I'm thankful that they didn't I 'threw a lot of fish back' during my dating years, and got 'thrown back' myself a few times. As someone said earlier, I thank God that I didn't end up with some of the ones I thought I liked/loved at the time. If I had, I wouldn't have found the 'one' that I've been married to for the past 25 years. Hillbilly

I don't really know that I can add anything to Ronnie's reply, but I'll try... I don't think spending big bucks will do anything, per se, to improve how many fish you catch. It might, however, improve the experience you have while catching whatever number of fish you catch. If you are fishing with someone that has more expensive equipment, ask if you can try it out for a few casts and judge for yourself. I couldn't imagine what a difference a slow ratio reel could make when cranking, until FiveBassLimit let me try one of his slow ratio reels during a local outing this summer. It made a HUGE difference. My very next purchase was a slow ratio reel... thanks Five Bass!!! My new reel wasn't necessarily more expensive, but the experience of trying different equipment was priceless

Like others, I give as wide a berth as possible and NO WAKE, even to the folks on the banks.

This is outstanding and just one more reason that I'm a proud member of this forum!

You might try a local boat dealer, sporting goods store, or bait and tackle shop to see if they would provide you the shirts or help you with the cost of them. If that doesn't work, check with a local embroidery shop about the cost of their tournament or pit shirts. Often times, the shirts aren't as expensive as the embroidery that you want on them. If all else fails, you might consider just a regular 'work' type of shirt, a khaki shirt with two front pockets, etc. that can be purchased inexpensively through Sears, Walmart, K-Mart, etc. Once you get some embroidery on them, they'll do a decent job of representing your club. Hope this helps some, Hillbilly

I'll add my vote to hating the C-rig. I don't know how to do it effectively and I hate it enough not to want to learn.

Our club also uses a 100 point system with 100 pts for 1st, 99 pts for 2nd, etc. It works well for us.

I'll post my opinion about this. For anyone that doesn't like the rules, the divisions, the organizations, etc., etc., and for all those that love to bash B.A.S.S., FLW, ABA, or whoever... there's a very simple solution. If you don't like the organization, the tour, the locations, the officials, the anglers, whatever.... then don't fish the event.

Like some others have already stated, I love the BPS in Concord, NC. I shop there about once a month, including the past weekend, and the staff is always helpful, knowledgable, and courteous and they generally have what I need in stock. I've also ordered from them online multiple times and have yet to get flooded with unwanted emails, etc. I, too, am a fan of the local bait and tackle shops. But before blaming BPS for putting the locals out of business, remember that BPS was once a 'local' store too. In fact, they weren't even a store per se, the founder was selling specialty baits out of a van at tournaments. He had a vision and capitalized on it. The local stores had the same opportunities as BPS, they either didn't have the vision or the ability or the desire. I'll continue supporting the local shops, but I'll also continue buying from BPS.

I guess I got fooled too... I just joined ABA, paid my $25, and I can't wait on the new year to get here so I can start fishing the series

I really hope Ike takes the Legend deal. I think he should turn his back on Ranger just like they turned their back on him!

Pat, Try some different colors with the Chatterbait for (hopefully) different results. I've caught fish all year on my white/chart. Chatterbaits except at our last tournament. Everyone I was fishing with was catching decent fish on an all white chatterbait and I couldn't even get a hit on the white/chart. Unfortunately, I didn't have an all white one in my tacklebag. It's amazing what a slight change in color might do. Hillbilly

I have a group 27 battery that I purchased at Walmart to run the 12v trolling motor on my jon boat. I've had it for over one year now with no problems. Obviously, for a larger boat, I'd get larger batteries. As others have suggested, I'd have 2 batteries from my trolling motor and one for cranking the big motor. Although my bass boat has an onboard charger, I purchased a 'car' battery charger at Sears and it works fine for a faster charge on all 3 batteries.